New York

Review: ‘Marvin’s Room’ at Roundabout Theatre Company

Scott McPherson wrote Marvin’s Room, a play about illness, family ties, and death when he was just a lad of 30. As a gay man, he was of course aware of the AIDS epidemic that had been ravaging the gay...

Review: ‘Of Human Bondage’ at Soulpepper on 42nd Street

The first-ever stage adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage, written by Vern Thiessen and directed by Albert Schultz for Canada’s Soulpepper Theatre Company, is also the recipient of the...

Capital Fringe Preview: ‘J-Swizzle’s (and D-Man’s) Epic Awesome Swaggy Broventure for Sweet Rhymes’ by Emma Choi

Between Hebrew classes and surviving middle school, best friends Jared “J-Swizzle” and Daniel “D-Man” dream of becoming the biggest rap stars in the universe. It will take a magical quest that...

Review: PBS Presents ‘A Capitol Fourth’

Every year PBS puts on a spectacular show with A Capitol Fourth and has the most talented people involved performing and behind the scenes. This year features The Blues Brothers with Dan Aykroyd, Jim...

Review: ‘Napoli, Brooklyn’ at Roundabout Theatre Company

In Napoli, Brooklyn, playing at Roundabout Theatre Company through September 3rd, Playwright Meghan Kennedy gets us started with a mimed prologue in which a family sits at the dining table, enjoying a...

Review: ‘On the Town’ at Gateway Playhouse

Smash hit On the Town has sailed into the Gateway Playhouse. Originally opening on Broadway in 1944, this popular musical is also quite well known for its 1949 film version starring Gene Kelly, and...

Review: ‘Zanna Don’t (the Reboot)’ at Theatre Horizon

For the latest show in its 42nd and Main Concerts series, Theatre Horizon tackled Zanna, Don’t!, an offbeat musical that ran Off-Broadway in 2003 and has had productions all over the world since. That...

Review: ‘Finding Neverland’ at the Hippodrome Theatre

Those who’ve forgotten Peter Pan are destined to repeat it in Finding Neverland. The U.S. national tour now at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre until July 2 makes for a dreamy midsummer night’s...

Capital Fringe Preview: A Guided Tour of ‘Last Ditch Playlist’ by Brad Baron

Last Ditch Playlist is about two men, Aaron and Wes. They’re probably just broken up. So we flash backwards and forwards in a whirlwind of Aaron’s memories to figure out exactly where he stands. While...

Review: ‘The Crusade of Connor Stephens’ at the Jerry Orbach Theater

Gun violence, socio-religious intolerance, same-sex marriage, and gay adoption are some of the current hot-button issues that tear apart a family, polarize a community, and create a media frenzy in...

Film Review: ‘Abacus: Small Enough to Jail’

The fallout of the financial crisis is still being thrashed out in full public view, which makes for a terribly difficult documentary subject; we are a long way from knowing where most of it actually...

Review: ‘Pippin’ at Princeton Summer Theater

So many men seem destined To settle for something small, But I won’t rest until I know I’ll have it all… Stephen Schwartz’s lyrics for “Corner of the Sky” sum up everything that the title character of...

Review: ‘The Imbible: Day Drinking’ at New World Stages

Feeling overwhelmed by the demands of work, everyday chores, and the incessant pings of your digital devices? Then don’t just find the time, but make the time, for getting together, catching up, and...

Review: ‘Death Comes for the War Poets’ at The Sheen Center

This year marks the centenary of the beginning of America’s involvement in World War I in 1917, and The Sheen Center has recognized it with the stellar world premiere of Death Comes for the War Poets...

Review: ‘American Idiot’ at Beyond the Page Theatre Company at West Potomac High School

A guitar solo sounds, the band joins in, and the stage is set for a very talented group of performers at Beyond the Page Theatre Company of West Potomac High School. Who knew that the rebellious...

Review: ‘d4rkly your retrorockets fl4re’ at the Flamboyán Theater

The world-premiere full-stage production of d4rkly your retrorockets fl4re, written by Steven Mark Tenney and co-directed with his sister Susan Tenney, is presented by The Constellation Project as...

Opinion: ‘Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare, and the Fine Art of Dissent’

It’s a classic art-imitating-life-imitating-art situation: to make a production relevant, the director decks out the cast in modern dress to create the illusion that Shakespeare was writing about our...

Review: ‘Evita’ at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival

The life of Eva Perón is the stuff legends, and rock operas, are made of: a rags-to-riches story of a poor illegitimate child from provincial Argentina, whose ambitious determination, seductive...

Review: ‘Dreamgirls’ at ANKH Repertory Theatre and The Finest! Performance Foundation

Dreamgirls, with book and lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger, was one of the very first shows I saw on Broadway, back in the 1980s. It was memorable then and it remains memorable now in the...

Review: ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ at Toby’s Dinner Theatre

“May I return to the beginning?” runs a beloved lyric to the song “Any Dream Will Do” from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, now back for the summer at Toby’s — The Dinner Theatre of...

Review: ‘Cry-Baby The Musical’ at Drama Learning Center

Baltimore’s John Waters takes another swipe at Eisenhower-era conformity in Cry-Baby: The Musical, making its area premiere now at the Drama Learning Center in Columbia. The show had a short Broadway...

Review: ‘Julius Caesar’ at The Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park

We are in the streets of Rome. The lights onstage bump up and immediately we are in the midst of controversy. Flavius and Marullus are admonishing the crowd to break up and get on with their business....

Review: ‘An Enemy of the People’ at Wheelhouse Theater Company

Economic self-interest, an ‘inconvenient truth,’ a ruthless politician, a whistleblower, ‘fake news,’ closed-door meetings, a bureaucratic cover-up, the refusal to work together for the common good,...

Review: ‘Cost of Living’ at The Manhattan Theatre Club

The Manhattan Theatre Club is presently offering a 4-character play set in “the urban east of America” in the “near present day.” That description in the Playbill is a bit cryptic, but that may be...

Review: ‘Fun Home’ at the Forrest Theatre

Winner of five Tony Awards in 2015 – including the first-ever Best Musical honors given to a show written entirely by a team of women – Fun Home, with book and lyrics by Lisa Kron and music by Jeanine...

Review: ‘Morning’s at Seven’ at Old Academy Players in Philadelphia

Alone. Lonesome. Free. These three words appear often in Paul Osborn’s classic Morning’s at Seven, now on view at Old Academy Players in East Falls. This play has become a staple of regional and...

New Records: Listening to the Music of 3 Tony-Nominated Shows

New Records is a new column that discusses recordings of theatrical shows. It’s a companion to the theater reviews that appear here on DC Theater Arts. This week, in connection with the Tony Awards,...

Review: ‘The Government Inspector’ at Red Bull Theater

The New York theatre scene continues to offer variety and great fun with this post-Tony production of Nikolai Gogol’s masterpiece, The Government Inspector, as adapted by American playwright Jeffrey...

Preview: Toby Orenstein Tailors ‘Dreamcoat’ for a Dream Cast at Toby’s Dinner Theatre

To help mark its 45th year in business, Toby’s — The Dinner Theatre of Columbia is serving up something special in its new revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. No less than five...

Rockwell, Warhol, and Warhola: A Conversation with James Warhola about Three Generations of American Illustrators at the Norman Rockwell Museum

Though a generation apart in age, Norman Rockwell (1894 New York City-1978 Stockbridge) and Andy Warhol (1928 Pittsburgh-1987 New York City) captured the tenor of their respective eras of 20th-century...

Review: ‘And the Tony Goes to…’ at The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC, concerts never lack for inspired high concepts and ingenious themes. Whether featuring love songs, cowboy songs, nostalgia songs, or...

Review: ‘Mary Poppins’ at 2nd Star Productions

A show that’s “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” on every level. There has never been a nanny quite so magical – or musical – as Mary Poppins, a character created by author P.L. Travers in eight...

Review: ‘Motown The Musical’ at the Academy of Music

Bringing Detroit’s soulful music to the masses was the goal, and Berry Gordy showed he was ready for the challenge by creating the melodies of Motown. Written for the stage by Gordy (adapted from his...

Review: ‘One More River to Cross: A Verbatim Fugue’ at The Latvian Society of Philadelphia

Lynn Nottage wrote One More River to Cross: A Verbatim Fugue a decade ago, yet oddly enough, it has never been produced onstage before. As Nottage’s fame has grown – she just earned a Pulitzer Prize...

Review: ‘See How They Run’ at Vagabond Players

We all need a good laugh these days – not a snicker or a snarky smile. A series of side-splitting belly laughs that leave you exhausted and smiling. See How They Run aptly named for the nursery rhyme...

Review: ‘Saturday Night Fever’ at the Walnut Street Theatre

What do you remember most about the movie Saturday Night Fever? Is it the dynamic direction, the earthy dialogue, or the gritty story about a working-class Brooklyn kid trying to escape a menial job...

Review: ‘A Chorus Line’ at Tantallon Community Players

Packed with pizazz, energy, and downright sizzle, A Chorus Line, as performed by Tantallon Community Players (TCP) and directed by Christopher Gerken, is the MVP of musicals on DC area stages this...

Review: ‘Golden Cockerel’ at New Opera NYC

Golden Cockerel (Coq d’Or) is a musical fantasy that was popular in the first half of the twentieth century but rarely seen since. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov composed it in 1907 with splashy orchestral...

Review: ‘Can You Forgive Her?’ at Vineyard Theatre

“I’ve made bad choices. And I’ve made them . . . knowingly,” says 27-year-old Tanya – a single mom and bar waitress in a South Jersey beach town – in the opening scene of Gina Gionfriddo’s latest dark...

Review: ‘The Dollar Princess’ at Concert Operetta Theater

Leo Fall’s music is not likely to return to Broadway. It did, however, provide pleasant vocal opportunities for gifted young singers of the Concert Operetta Theater in Philadelphia this weekend, along...

Review: ‘RENT’ at Gateway Playhouse

The Gateway Playhouse opened its 68th Season with the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning musical, RENT. With book, music, and lyrics by Jonathan Larson, this artistic musical is loosely based on Giacomo...

Review: ‘Building the Wall’ at New World Stages

Out of his imaginative mind comes another powerful theatre piece by Robert Shenkkan, author of 15 plays including two dealing with LBJ (All the Way and The Great Society.) This time, he proposes what...

Broadway Producer Jack Viertel to Appear in Conversation with Jason Loewith at the Gaithersburg Book Festival, This Saturday, May 20th at 2:15pm

This Saturday, at 2:15pm, noted Broadway Producer Jack Viertel will appear at the Gaithersburg Book Festival in conversation with Olney Theatre Center Artistic Director Jason Loewith to discuss...

Review: ‘The Lucky One’ at Mint Theater Company

Every now and then it’s refreshing to turn on the time travel clock and return to what we then called “civilization” circa 1920. You know, after the war to end all wars, before the jazz babies really...

Review: ‘Little Women: The Musical’ at Third Wall Productions

Mother’s Day afternoon was spent in a Baltimore church basement where we gathered for the musical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic tale, Little Women. Truth be told, I wouldn’t have wanted to...

Who’s in Town?: Morgan James Performing at the Hamilton, Thursday, May 18 at 7:30pm

Morgan James has one versatile voice. It is a voice that that can slip effortlessly from light lyric coloratura to Broadway belting, to Soul singing. Take a look at her career: James earned a coveted...

Review: ‘Oklahoma!’ at John W. Engeman Theater

The John W. Engeman Theater at Northport is closing its 10th season with the rousing classic, Oklahoma! With book and lyrics by Rodgers and Hammerstein, this beloved musical has been a family favorite...

Review: ‘Dream: A Phonograph Musical’ at Ritz Theatre Company

Celebrating the 90th anniversary of its historic building, Ritz Theatre Company presents Dream: A Phonograph Musical, an original prequel to the genre of the ‘jukebox musical’ inspired by the hits of...

Review: ‘Marry Harry’ at The York Theatre Company

With apologies to James Morgan and the York Theatre Company (“York Theatre”) for this very late review of their current offering Marry Harry. I saw this new musical on April 30, but in the last-minute...

Review: ‘The Secret Garden’ at Memorial Players

If you’re looking for a musical of Broadway quality in the Baltimore area, look no further than some of the work being produced by Memorial Episcopal Church’s drama ministry, Memorial Players, now in...